Yavor,
On Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 3:01 PM Yavor Doganov <[email protected]> wrote: > [ Posting this via NNTP, hope it works. ] > > Ivan Vučica wrote: > > Distro packagers should also voice their opinion on whether they can > > switch to Clang (and, hopefully, libobjc2), which I'd invite them to > > do no matter what the decision is on presence of Clang-dependent > > code in GNUstep core libs. > > I guess distro packagers who prefer Clang (or have no reasonable > choice as that is the default and perhaps the only compiler on their > distro) have made their choice already. > > Regarding Debian, I would like to point out that I cannot speak for > them. I am neither a Debian Developer nor a Debian Maintainer. I > also cannot speak for the Debian GNUstep team as I don't hold any > special position there. > > But I'll have to repeat what I've said several times to fellow team > members and other people asking me the question "Why Debian's GNUstep > doesn't switch to Clang?". The answer is simple: because there's a > lot to lose and nothing to gain. > This is patently incorrect. The gain is time and compatibility with the latest code base. I laid out the advantages and disadvantages of this in my previous posting. I entail you to look that post up, but I will put what I think the losses and the gains are here for your convenience: Switching to clang... What's to gain: * Time, time spent doing things the compiler can do automatically is a waste of time and, more importantly, time NOT spent on fixing or working on the CORE problems. * Compatibility, much of the API is moving towards using blocks. Blocks *ARE NOT SUPPORTED* on GCC and aren't likely to be anytime in the near future. * Developers, gaining developer interest means more applications. Supporting an up to date version of the language which is in line with developer expectations helps to attract them. * More Applications, more applications means more end users (sort of chicken and egg thing) * Swift, Possibility of integration with open source swift. With GCC this is not possible. What's to lose: * Possibly a political issue with the FSF, but there are other projects which depend on languages not implemented by GCC. * Support for older platforms which ONLY support gcc. So, I apologize if I don't agree with the "nothing to gain" opinion. Yours, GC -- Gregory Casamento GNUstep Lead Developer / OLC, Principal Consultant http://www.gnustep.org - http://heronsperch.blogspot.com http://ind.ie/phoenix/
